Great camera

This is a great consumer-grade camera. It is light weight, sturdy, and takes great pictures and video. We bought this a a replacement for a PowerShot A75 (we also an A410, too). We were taking pictures for my daughter's gymnastics team and had difficulty getting a good picture (low level lighting) with the A75. One of the other parents offered their A720IS, which took great pictures. The A75 and A410 have performed very well and have held up very well with less-than-optimal treatment, so we decided to add the A720IS to our inventory. The A720 seems to be sturdier than the other two and a big step up in capability and picture quality. The face-recognition capability is fantastic. The camera uses alkaline or NiMH batteries (2 AA-size), making them easy to replace. The picture taking speed (from when you depress the shutter to when the picture is taken is very fast (much improved from the A75 and A410). The movie mode is very handy. The occasions where we need a video recorder are well suited for this camera; its size, weight, simplicity and price far outweigh the video recorders that we have tried. Out of the box, we were taking pictures in less than five minutes. The instruction manual is pretty extensive and easy to understand. The software is easy to install and navigate. Connecting the camera to the computer for picture download (and upload) is straightforward with the USB cable. Printing pictures directly to a SELPHY or PIXMA printer is also very easy. The A720 is a very good value of the price.